_June 24._--Went early this morning to the Jewish synagogue with
Jaffir Ali Khan. At the sight of a Mohammedan of such rank, the
chief person stopped the service and came to the door to bring
us in. He then showed us the little room where the copies of the
law were kept. He said there were no old ones but at Baghdad and
Jerusalem; he had a printed copy with the Targum, printed at
Leghorn. The only European letters in it were the words 'con
approbazione,' of which he was anxious to know the meaning. The
congregation consisted chiefly of little boys, most of whom had
the Psalter. I felt much distressed that the worship of the God
of Israel was not there, and therefore I did not ask many
questions. When he found I could read Hebrew, he was very
curious to know who I might be, and asked my name. I told him
Abdool Museeh, in hopes that he would ask more, but he did not,
setting me down, I suppose, as a Mohammedan.
_June 25._--Every day I hear stories of these bloody Tartars.
They allow no Christian, not even a Soonni, to enter their
country, except in very particular cases, such as merchants with
a pass; but never allow one to return to Persia if they catch
him. They argue, 'If we suffer this creature to go back, he will
become the father of other infidels, and thus infidelity will
spread: so, for the sake of God and His prophet, let us kill
him.' About 150 years ago the men of Bokhara made an insidious
attempt to obtain a confession from the people of Mushed that
they were Shi'ahs. Their moulvies begged to know what evidence
they had for the Khaliphat of Ali. But the men of Mushed, aware
of their purpose, said, 'We Shi'ahs! no, we acknowledge thee for
friends.' But the moollahs of Bokhara were not satisfied with
this confession, and three of them deliberated together on what
ought to be done. One said: 'It is all hypocrisy; they must be
killed.' The other said: 'No, if all be killed we shall kill
some Soonnis.' The third said: 'If any can prove that their
ancestors have ever been Soonnis they shall be saved, but not
else.' Another rejoined that, from being so long with Shi'ahs,
their faith could not be pure, and so it was better to kill
them. To this another agreed, observing that though it was no
sin before men to let them live, he who spared them must be
answerable for it to God. When the three bloody inquisitors had
determined on the destruction of the Shi'ah city, they gave the
signal, and 150,000 Tartars marched down and put all to the
sword.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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